By Randy Heacock, LEADership Minister
When Steve Kriss, Conference Executive Minister, invited me to consider being a LEADership Minister, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. I have a LEADership minister and I have been in the conference long enough to remember the early conversations of the role of a LEADership Minister. However, one of my first interactions, a phone call from an elder of a congregation I now serve as a LEADership Minster, caught me by surprise. Steve never warned me of such a call, nor was it listed in the memo of understanding I signed. I attended the training on mandatory reporting; Barbie Fischer, Conference Communication Manager, provided some guidelines for communication protocol so that confidentiality is maintained. I was ready to go, so I thought.
An elder called and began with the following statement, “Randy, I need to apologize to you and ask for your forgiveness.” He went on to explain how he had heard something about me that he allowed to shape his opinion of me. When my name came up at their elders meeting, he raised some questions based on what he had heard about me. The other elders challenged him to speak to me directly rather than to rely on what he had heard. Hence, he began with an apology for not speaking to me first. His sincere apology and request for forgiveness provided a solid foundation for us to discuss his questions. I believe we both ended the conversation grateful for the interaction.
Though grateful, I soon felt a sense of sadness regarding this conversation. Sad, because it made me realize how rarely I have been involved in communication with other believers in which a person requested to be forgiven. In 30 years of pastoral leadership, I can only recall one other time when a person asked for my forgiveness. I wondered why this is so rare in the church that proclaims that reconciliation is the center of our work. At the same time, I have witnessed men with whom I have played basketball with for 15 years apologize to one another on a far more regular basis. Why is it more common for these men, many of whom do not share a faith commitment, to readily apologize to one another?
While I could provide some possible answers, I prefer to let us think on this for ourselves. I do know the positive outcome of one elder’s apology. I was deeply moved and our relationship enhanced by his phone call. It also challenged me to consider what stops me from freely seeking the forgiveness of another. I am grateful for this sad surprise. I pray we all may grow and experience the fruit of forgiveness in our relationships as the norm rather than the exception.
Luke 17:4, “”And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
its winter beauty, a dazzling display. Sunday afternoon when I’d plan to return home, four inches of new snow blanketed our vehicles. Vermonters for whom that is no big deal,
My change of plans was a minor inconvenience. But other situations feel more major. Heather Wolfe, member of the Taftsville Transition Team reflected on a piece of their four year pastoral search process. At one point, two pastoral candidates seemed to be real possibilities. However, both people withdrew their names from consideration. Dorcas Lehman, who was an interim pastor at that time, reminded the Team that Moses wandered in the wilderness for forty years before reaching the Promised Land. Surely Moses felt much disorientation, and disappointment. Heather remarked that they hoped it didn’t take 34 more years to get to their Promised Land of finding a pastor!
Krista began with her own story of disoriented following. She was about to graduate from seminary. A congregation inquired about her openness to a pastoral call. While on a silent retreat she sensed the Spirit validating her call to pastoral ministry. Soon there were multiple long-distance Skype interviews with a search committee resulting in a call to candidate at that church. Krista purchased plane tickets but then suddenly questions began to emerge from the search committee and the offer to be the pastoral candidate was withdrawn. Krista was obviously disoriented and devastated. Questions about that experience remain, but she testifies that it led to growth and new opportunities.
“The extent to which we are surprised by the results of the election demonstrates the poverty of our relationships. The extent to which we don’t understand the need for immigration reform demonstrates the poverty of our relationships.” As I listened to 
One of the things I love about SLT is that it turns people of authority into students for a few days. The ones I’m used to seeing up front at conference and denominational events are sitting and listening, taking notes and asking questions. At SLT, we participants — the majority of us white church leaders with a significant amount of agency in our daily lives — learned from keynote speakers Dr. Cleveland and 
Using illustrations from scripture and their lives, the speakers explored the depth of race’s impact on our society. They explored how our racialized society maintains itself and why it’s so hard for white people to see and confront racism — why we need people with a “view from the underside,” in Hart’s words, to recognize it. They called the largely white audience to recognize how we’ve been socialized into racial bias, and that Jesus never called us to shame but to repentance and new life together. Dr. Cleveland showed us by example how to notice privilege in our own lives. We were being tutored in how to reach beyond ourselves as a demonstration of respect and also of our need.
But it’s not just that we need each other’s perspective, or that we need to learn from one another to understand Jesus’ message. No, we each have a role to play in dismantling racism, wherever we are. When we’re uncomfortable we can benefit by staying at the table and continuing the conversation. In fact, that’s what we were doing at the conference: listening, learning, checking our assumptions and discerning our next steps. One conference attendee asked Drew Hart, “What can I do about racism in my predominantly white community?” and Hart responded, “You’re right at the center of the action!” Throughout the conference I heard calls to learn and act right where we are, building relationships with our literal neighbors. I attended a workshop where we practiced listening to people we disagreed with. In another workshop we discussed what it means to “seek the peace of the city” where you are (Jer. 29:7) and spent some time brainstorming for our own contexts.
Ed Silvoso, of the 
As a young boy, I enjoyed going to my grandparent’s house to explore the many knick-knacks that were displayed around their home. Of all the fun items to see, the one that intrigued me more than any other was my great grandfather’s tuning fork. I would spend countless hours repeatedly striking it against the heel of my shoe and then holding it to my ear to listen to the sound of the vibrations – a concert A – over and over again. I would then attempt to match the pitch that I heard in my ear with my own voice while imagining myself as a chorister leading a hymn. The inscription pressed into the metal on one of the tuning fork’s tines stated “A = 440 vibrations guaranteed,” meaning that the sound in my ear would always be the same – guaranteed! But although I always heard the same pitch in my ear, somehow my ability to match that pitch with the sound of my voice was less than a perfect match.